>There is a limit to what a conservator can consolidate without going mad
>or blind working under magnification.I suggest you look over your
>collection to possibly match up the bigger pieces like a jigsaw puzzle
>and then deaccession the remainders and jetison them.
>What is the cost in time and handling to try and consolidate tiny fragments?
>Is it in your budget?
>Regards:>
>Len Hambleton -Objects Conservator
>N.C.Museum of History
>Raleigh N.C.

Hey Len;
Don't you think that as conservators we should be loathe to discard anything?
I'm for packaging the sherds and storing them. Who knows what value the
object may have in the future? What if 100 years from now that package is
the last remaining example of the thing on this earth. If the pieces are
stable (just broken) then let's leave the conservation for when money is
available. This lack of funding can't last forever.

As for the flaming of Anita: I think that Jack must have been having a
really bad day. Please forgive him Anita! and Jack, while it may seem that
conservation is under attack from institutions all the time it is up to you
to educate your administrators about the importance of conservation. You are
the scientist they are just administrators who have the bottom line to
account for at all times. I've been on both sides and it's really tough to
be an advocate for an object whose deterioration is invisible to the eye. I
have to rely on my conservation training to rally support for conservation
issues in my museum.
Linda Tanaka
Vancouver Museum
Vancouver, BC
[log in to unmask]

(opinions are mine not my insitution)